Our first 2 updates made it sound like Dad would be in the hospital a maximum of 10 days. Here it is Day 14 Post-op and he's still in the hospital. While the man can be a freight train when he sets his mind to things, he also tends to want to set his own pace. So, I guess he's decided to not listen to the doctors after all. He's making progress, but it's slow.
The main problem at the moment is he is still producing too much bile from his stomach. He had a couple of tests yesterday that show an enlarged area at the top of his intestine where it comes from his stomach. This blockage won't let the goop leave his stomach, so they are having to pump it out. Basically, the train isn't leaving the station in the right direction. They will be doing an endoscopy this afternoon to see what the problem is. They think it just may be inflammation from surgery, but it could be something more serious like a kink.
All of this means he still has the tube through his nose, down his throat, and into his stomach. While he's tolerated it all pretty well, he's losing his good humor about that tube. (Fill in your own 'Hankism' here about what he's saying to the nurses). He is making other progress. He hasn't been on any pain meds since last Thursday...he is taking longer walks each day...and more and more tubes are being removed. But, at the moment, he is still only allowed ice chips to eat. He gets 1/2 cup of ice chips over a 24 hour period. When I think of the volume of food I've eaten over the last 2 weeks and compare it to his 2 cups of ice chips, I'm feeling kind of bad for the guy.
I will update this site again this weekend when we know more. In the mean time, he's hanging in there and still hanging out at Parker Adventist Hospital.
For those of you asking about my niece Celeste's surgery, her post is listed below.
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